Dreaming Of Oz
by CompleteNerd
Summary: A teenaged boy is whisked away to a land he previously thought was fictional, where he embarks on magical quest to prove himself, with many hazards along the Yellow Brick Road. (I don't own anything from Oz, besides my OC'S. Includes all the famous characters you know and love. Includes elements from almost every version of Oz. Rating may or may not change)
1. Chapter 1

He rubbed his eyes, sitting back on his chair, his back was killing him. He probably got that kind of stuff from his father. He couldn't imagine how bad it would be when he was older. He wanted to go to sleep, but he couldn't until all these photos were done uploading.

What photos?

Of Judy Garland.

Now most teenage boys have a celebirty crush, he was no expection, but he was in love with her. He was obessed with her. It was bad. And he knew he loved her. He was only 14 but he felt very mature for his age. He knew what love is, though he hadn't really experienced it offically.

Sometimes his heart ached because he could never have her. Sure, it's pathetic, he thought, but he just couldn't help it. Heck, even if he could, he wouldn't.

It all started at the tender age of 3, watching The Wizard of Oz, like most kids.

His favorite movie. It fascianted him, not just Judy, which was when he realized he like girls, the whole world of Oz, it haunted him too, in a good way, it was a mix of nostalgia from his childhood and the facisination of it. The magic of it, the beauty of the land in general. But he couldn't quite describe it.. It just haunted him. And he liked it. He always wanted to go to Oz. He loved the idea. Of fantasy, other worlds.

Music from the movies also helped it, and the Oz Festivals he went to as a child, god, he yearned to go back there one day.

He hadn't read all of the books yet, only a few, and that was a long time ago.

He had loved Oz orginally from when he was 3 to when he was 8.

He guesses he just got tired of it, not sure how, but he did.

Same with Judy.

But he was glad, because when he got back in to it, it made it all the more whimiscal.

He had got back into it around the age of 12, when that "Oz The Great And Powerful" movie came out. At first he didn't think much of it, but then, it started to intruige him and his interest in Oz was rekindled.

And for Judy.

No one knew he started to love it again, he wasn't sure why, he just didn't want anyone to know. And he just pretended it was a thing from the past, and everyone believed it.

He convinced his mother the only reason he saw Great And Powerful in the first place out of bordeom, she bought it.

Nevertheless, he never told anyone outside of a few friends, fearful of judgement. He had always been intersted in that sort of magical thing, almost like Michael Jackson in a way. That childlike point of view of it.

When the photos were done uploading, he sighed and decided to listen to Over The Rainbow, his comfort song.

That song always made him feel better. No matter what.

Judy's vocals, the instruments, the lyrics, the fact is was from Oz, everything.

He looked through his pictures on Windows Movie Maker, most of them being Judy, of course.

He got to Over The Rainbow and turned down his volume, paranoid of someone hearing it, as he sighed, listenting to the song.

Yes, he knew he'd never get to Oz, but as the song kept playing, maybe part of the thrill of his Oz addiction was he'd never be able to get there.

And he'd always dream of it.

As the song finished, he closed his eyes for a minute and sighed, shutting the laptop as he turned everything off, going to bed, hopeful of a dream about Oz or maybe Judy. Or at least fantasize about it.

Little did he know, soon it would be more than fantasy.


	2. Chapter 2

Bryson Scott, 14 years old, lanky with shaggy brown hair swore he could just beat the kids at his school.

Some kids just smacked all his stuff to the ground and then threw a wad of paper at his head, with that annoying middle school laugh.

Not to mention, in Art he could NOT make this stupid clay animal, of course him being the only one, the teacher acting like he was retarded.

Maybe he was.

His math teacher last year used to call him and a few other students idiots.

He didn't know, just another insecurity to add to the list.

He had a horrible day, being made fun of, and pressure

He did _not _like his generation. Everybody was an idiot, who spread gossip, stayed with the current trends, and listened to some of the worst music he ever heard. And some of them hadn't even _heard _of Judy Garland, or some of the other classics. He couldn't believe how stupid these immature brats were.

_That's what I get for being mature for my age, _he'd think to himself.

He just hated school in general, he was so easily pressured.

Mostly by things like Art and Gym. Ugh.

And always getting made fun of, not the most popular.

Skinny, too.

He could hardly think with all the stress of grades, and wondering if he would be made fun of or not.

He barley had any friends.

He had like two in real life, and like 5 on the internet.

But even then they weren't the friends he wanted.

They weren't the loyal, helpful friends, not the real ones.

Not like Scarecrow, Tin Man, or Lion. Not at all.

And there comes Oz again, helping him when he needed it most.

He'd always day dream of it, god it was amazing.

It was one of the only things keeping him going.

He was suddenly kicked out of his thoughts when he saw his sister, Debby, finally arrive to pick him up.

His mom worked at a Day Care, unable to pick him up, and his dad, an electrician.

It took her a good 50 minutes, 50 mintues of his time wasted.

He sighed as he went into the car.

"Hey.." He said softly.

"Hey." She replied even more softly.

She had been crying.

He decided to not push it.

It was probably about her boyfriend.

Or one of her friends.

Who cares, she barley had time for him or anyone else besides her friends or boyfriend, anyways.

He looked around during the drive, his headphones in.

Tennessee was... eh... pretty boring.

He then arrived home.

"I'm gonna go now.." She mumbled.

Bryson sighed, not surprised in the least.

"Alright, see ya."

She nodded and drove away.

His dad was already almost home, considering how long it took her to pick him he got home, he was greeted by his black and white beagle dog, Lucky.

He smiled as Lucky whined, jumping up on him, excited to see him.

He pet him, hugging him, his dog was truly his best friend, much like Dorothy.

He loved animals.

Shortly after, his dad came home.

To be honest, his dad scared him.

He could tell his dad was dissapointed by his scrawnyness, being unathletic, and nerdy.

And the fact he didn't hunt, his dad loved hunting, he tried it a few times and hated it, but kept quiet so his dad wouldn't freak.

He once killed a deer and he felt so guilty he quit.

After, his father would insult him every now and then, and on a few occasions beat him.

He remembered a few years back, the words his father yelled.

"You need to toughen up!"

"You're a dissapointment!"

He always held resentment because of that.

To put it blunt, he did not like his father.

"Sup." His father greeted rather angrily.

"Not much..." Bryson replied.

"Give me 5 dollars out of that." His dad demanded, throwing coins on the table.

"I need to go buy a lottery ticket..." His dad mumbled.

Bryson's heart pounded out of his chest.

He couldn't do it under this much pressure, he stopped asking for help on Math homework because of how angry his dad got.

He couldn't do it with him pacing the floors.

"Why do you want me to do it?" Bryson asked.

"Busy!" His dad holored back.

Bryson sighed and tried his hardest, but he couldn't do it, his dad coming back and looking at the coins.

"Can't even do first grade shit..." His dad mumbled. "Why don't you come and watch football with me, after I come back, huh?"

Bryson nodded, his whole body shivering from what just happened.

His dad came back, and he watched it with him, hating every moment.

Later, his mom came home.

His mom was a lot better, even though sometimes she had a quick temper and was a bit of a Jesus freak.

"Hey little man..." She greeted, obviously exhausted from the Day Care.

He talked with his mom for a bit and got up from his dad.

His mom then reached out to let Lucky out, without a leash.

He hated it, but he wouldn't protest, he knew his dad would get mad.

He went in his bed, Lucky still wasn't back.

It had been a good 30 minutes.

He usually came back already.

When his dad left, he asked his mom if he could go and find Lucky.

After a few minutes of calling for him, he decided to go outside and look around.

"Lucky! Lucky!" LUCKY!"

Lucky still wouldn't come.

He heard his dad coming back and he ran back into his house.

He paced around the room, sweating, and almost to tears, his anxiety kicking in, trying not to have a panic attack.

This always happened when Lucky ran off, but usually he wasn't gone for this long.

Then, to make matters worse, his parents started aruging.

And it was intense.

And it was buildling.

It was the same stuff they always went on about.

He couldn't take it, no Lucky and the yelling was horryifing him.

He walked into his room and peaked in his closet, looking at his old Oz collection.

These were the times he needed Oz the most.

Times like this.

He'd just think of the wonder of it, and things would look up.

He went upstairs, of course turning his laptop on as usual, doing typical nerdy things.

He decided he'd make an edit of.. something.. not sure what yet.

The yelling of his parents was getting too much to handle at this point.

It was more intense than usual.

They were cussing, throwing things.

It was never, EVER _this _bad.

He shuddered and put his headphones in, turning up the music.


	3. Chapter 3

Bryson couldn't take it anymore, the worrying of where his dog went, and this yelling was too much for him. He walked slowly back to his laptop, putting his phone on his charger, and taking his headphones off.

His laptop had lately been falling apart, and was now very fragile, but sadly for him, he completley forgot as he lifted it up, the screen of it completley falling off.

His heart sank.

_Well there goes 500 hundred bucks... _He thought to himself.

He couldn't believe it, all the stuff he saved on it, all his data, gone.

He was in a state of panic, his dog was loose, his parents fighting, and now his damn laptop was broken.

He groaned silently and quietly went downstairs, careful to not get his parents attention.

He carefully went to his room, and paced, he was about to have an anxiety attack, he had them every now and then, and they were not fun.

He could feel it coming on, he started trembling, his chest feeling full, and in a knot, he was light-headed, sweating, and he felt very tired.

He then started hypervenilating, feeling smothered, he felt he would loose control, his mind racing, hoping to god it would end, as he fell to the floor, clinging on to a nearby chair, his dog not there to comfort him.

The stress of school, his father, and everything that just happened was too much, he wanted it to end so badly, he hadn't had one that was this bad in a year or two, it was overwelming to him at the moment.

He felt warm and arched himself up on his bed, trying to catch his breathing.

And no one would help, his parents were going at it roughly, he almost felt it would get physical soon.

He rocked back and forth, trying to think of happier thoughts...

Like.. Oz... Over The Rainbow.. that always worked.

And it did, a little bit, but not enough, as he tried to gather himself, taking deep breaths, and wiping the tears about to come down his cheeks.

He managed to plop himself on his bed, the attack going away after a while.

He breathed heavily, and just laid there for a while, letting himself go back to normal.

He clenched his fists and got up as the bed creaked.

He slowly walked in the living room, and he could see his dad had shoved his mom against a wall, as he stared at him.

They were face to face, Bryson taking in a big gulp.

His dad clenched his teeth, as him looked over him, sobbing, almost looking at him for help.

The sight made Bryson choke up a bit, as he fought back tears, trying to look man enough for his dad.

Bryson tensed up and walked up slowly to them.

He was not gonna let this happen.

"Leave her alone.." He commaned weakly.

"What?" His father replied through his teeth.

"Leave her alone." This time more loudly, with a bit more confidence.

His dad let her go, turning to him.

"Now you listen here boy, I'm your daddy. I'm the reason you're here... you don't tell me what to do. Your mom's got you brainwashed. She's a whore. And one day you'll know it. Now keep out of this." He commaned slowly.

His mother nodded and motioned him to go, he stood there for a minute, not sure what to do.

He'd feel like a coward if he left.

"NOW." His dad holored.

But he did, and his father went back to pinning his mom.

He slowly walked away, shaking, not wanting to already have another panic attack, he didn't know what to do, so he just walked out the door.

He couldn't believe he just left her there to be beaten.

_Why the hell did I just do that?! _He thought to himself.

He didn't know what to do so he just started running, not thinking about what he was doing.

"LUCKY! LUCKY!" LUCKY!" He screamed, sobbing as he yelled for his dog, he needed him, he was his best friend and he needed him.

He just started running into the woods, looking everywhere.

His legs almost gave out, he needed to find his dog.

He fell to his knees after a good 15 minutes of searching.

Now here he was lost, sobbing as he couldn't find his way home.

He just lay there in defeat for a few minutes, until he heard the sound of a storm.

It was thundering, it was cloudy all day.

And then he couldn't believe what he saw.

A tornado.

Coming right towards him.

Of course being the Oz fan he was, he thought about it for a second and then leaped away, running away, til he made his way into an old beaten down farm, at least now he knew he was close to home, this farm was always here on his way home. But he couldn't do anything as the twister approached, he jumped into the farm, he could feel the tornado coming towards him.

Was this really how he would die?

He hadn't done anything yet, hadn't acheived his dreams, was he really going to die so young?

All this made another anxiety attack come on, as he passed out from the fright, the twister coming closer.


	4. Chapter 4

Bryson's head was spinning.

He was confused for a moment, shifting and trying to find the right angle to get up.

He finally hoisted himself up, and shook his head, trying to realize what was going on.

He sighed as he remembered the events of last night.

He must've passed out when the twister had come.

His mom had to be worried sick.

He still hadn't found Lucky.

He could be dead at this point.. who knows with the tornado that just hit.

He let out a pathetic noise in defeat.

It was morning now, he could see the brightness creaking in from the holes that were in the ragged barn, the sun was very bright, he could hear the sound of birds chirping.

_At least it will be nice outside..._

He wondered what happened to his mom, he hoped she wasn't hurt too badly, usually his dad would settle down from that sort of stuff, but he was always a paranoid kid.

He groaned as he stood up, stretching his body, and popping his back.

He wouldn't mind his mom telling him not to do that at this time, he always took her for granted.

He felt like he wasn't loving enough, like he didn't care enough for his family the way he should, usually ignoring them, granted he had good reason, but he always felt he could make a better effort.

He paced the decaying barn, but then remembered he needed to get home, and now, he had already made a horrible choice by just running away, the police might even be looking for him.

But if that were true, they should've found him by now, the barn wasn't that far from his house anyways.

He yawned and decided to slowly walk out the barn, forcing himself to go back home.

He lazily pushed the door open, and then looked at his surroudnings and...

He gasped.

This was not Tennessee... the scenery here was gorgeous looking... he could hear the sounds of wild life, the whole place filled with a variety of colors, trees everywhere, he was in a field of some sort, with corn surrounding him.

He could see a lake.. it looked to be about a mile from here, but it looked amazing with the sun gleaming off of it, a multi-colored windmill was also standing a few feet from him.

He grinned, and his stomach turned, but in a good way.

He admired everything around him, but was bewildered... did the tornado really take him away to somewhere else?

His grin faded as he questioned just what the heck was going on.

He kept looking around, and started to walk out of the field, pushing the corn out of his way, and as he made his way to a fence, his eyes grew wide.

It was the yellow brick road...

Oz? But no... that's not possible.. wishful thinking.. this is just some cutesy thing someone decided to do... right?

This couldn't be.. Oz...

He climbed over the small fence, stepping down on the road.

His grin returned, it looked just like Oz.. and it was like he was walking down the yellow brick road...

It felt a bit strange.. the atmosphere.. the road he was walking on almost felt... rectangular?

He wasn't quite sure what it was, he couldn't put his finger on it.

He looked around and then started walking, scanning the area as he looked around.

It was amazing to look at, he couldn't stop looking at it, either, he loved it, he wanted to get home and all, but he couldn't help but want to walk slowly so he could look at it all...

There was various things around, various objects, places to rest.

He noticed a white.. bench?

He didn't know what to call it.. it was oddly built, but he noticed a very tall mountain in the background from it.

In fact, it was monstrous, almost absurd height.

A lot of things here were absurd... very bizzare and alien, there was a lot of stuff here that wasn't familar with him.

Still astonishing to look at, nonetheless.

He was beginning to worry.. he was walking for a while.. admiring everything until he decided to call for someone.

"Uh.. hello?" He asked loudly.

"Hello?!" He holored.

He decided to keep yelling until he finally got a response.

"Would you shut your mouth, kid?!"

The teenager turned around and searched for whoever that was...

"Uh... hello? Who was that?" He asked curiously.

"Right here, genius." It replied.

Bryson couldn't find the voice...

"Um... well I can't really find you..." He replied, getting sick of the voice's additude, but he was never one to stand up for himself.

"Oh wow, we've got a smarty over here!" It joked.

Bryson stuttered, not quite sure what to say.

"Okay.. but where am I... in... as in where am I in.. general?" Bryson asked, making awkard hand gestures.

The voice sighed and didn't reply, and as Bryson continued to scan the area in search of the voice, he came across a white sign post.

With... with a face?

It wasn't painted on either... at least it didn't look like it...

It's facial expression seemed to be changing.

Bryson stared at it, his mouth agape for what felt like a good year.

"What?" It asked impatiently.

Bryson tried to yell, or... well do anything.. make some type of noise... but he was stunned.. he just saw a sign post.. a SIGN POST.. _speak._

"You... you talked..." He whispered.

"Geez kid, you sound like my parents when I first said "ma ma", what is with you kid? You're a strange little creature..."

Bryson shook his head in disbelief.

This is the thing that was making the smart remarks.

"Uh.. I..I." He stuttered.

"UH.. I... I.. DER DERRRR. Were you born yesterday kid? Is this some kinda joke? Did the Witch of the East come back and put a moron spell on you? Seriously, I'd rather throw a puppy in a wood chipper than talk to you anymore."

Bryson rolled his eyes and started to protest but then the sign growled and started to scream, before being covered by a hand.

Bryson looked at who it was, and it was a very small woman, with blonde hair, dressed in all blue, she was barley 4 foot tall, Bryson's 5'8 stature towering over her, she was probably a munchkin, Bryson thought to himself.

"Who are you ranting at today, hmm Jack?" She asked in a small voice.

"This kid! I swear, Donna, ever since you guys moved me to Munchkin Land, all I get is idiots, why am I even here? People had a much more difficult time finding where to go at that cornfield! Why can't you guys direct some people?!"

Donna smirked and sighed.

"Ja- or.. sorry... "Sign post..." she mocked, "I told you we only moved you here temporarily because of our.."

She looked at Bryson for a second then back to the sign post.

"Problem.." She muttered.

Sign Post sighed and rolled his eyes, "Look, whatever, just get this boy.. OUT OF MY FACE!" He screamed.

Bryson winced and stepped back, gently being carried away by the Munchkin.

"Excuse him... he's..." She looked back at him, he was ranting in the distance. "He's been.. very grumpy lately. Anywho, it's nice to meet you, what's your name, sweety?, I'm Donna."

"Bryson." He replied as they shook hands. "Now listen, Donna.. Umm... I'm not... from around here.. I'm from Tennessee... and I'm lost. I need to get back home." He explained.

"Tennessee? I've.. I've never heard of such a place... what's it like?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Nothing special, but I guess it could be worse..."

"Well Bryson, once I get Glinda or somebody over here, we'll get your problem sorted out. Until then.. welcome to Oz!"

Bryson's jaw dropped, he was pretty sure this wasn't real... but.. this had to be Oz... you don't see animontronics that good at Universal Studios, that sign post was talking.

"O...Oz?" He asked.

She nodded with a smile.

Bryson looked around and realized Munchkin Land was just a few feet away from him, a portion of it covered by trees, but he could still make out the minature houses and the yellow brick road, along with the swirl leading into the red brick road.

He grinned, his knees shaking.

He was in Oz.

He could deny it no longer.

That was Munchkin Land.

He fell to his knees and laughed.

He was in Oz.

The munchkin gave him a funny expression and he could hear the sign post in the distance.

"See, this kid's crazy!"


	5. Chapter 5

He still had a hard time believing it as he knelled down in the grass and dirt of Oz.

This wasn't a dream... no way... it was far to real.

Was he in a coma or something? Had he finally gone crazy? He had a hard time believing this was Oz... then what was the Oz movies? How were they... how did... he didn't know. Did L. Frank Baum.. how did he write the book, did he come here or something?

The land he was in seemed to be a combination of different things from books and movies with a few things that weren't in either...

It was all so confusing... were all those famous characters here? And if so, what versions?

That sign post was from Journey Back To Oz, he believed, he hadn't seen in it years but he was pretty sure that's where it was from.

What year was it in here... what Oz was this?

And if Oz was real.. who knows what else was possible.. this changed everything... what was it? An alternate universe or planet or what? It intriuged him... but he didn't know what to think.. he decided to just enjoy the moment. He wasn't even in a big rush to get home. Why go home so soon when he's in the place he's loved and yearned to be at for so long? His dad hated him, abused him, his mom and sister ignored him. He only really had two friends and they weren't even very loyal friends anyways, they were mostly jerks really. He got made fun of everyday at school, and it always made him feel stupid, why go back to the torture? And... wait.

What about Lucky?

He still hadn't found his beloved dog.

Maybe if he was lucky, his dog of the same name might have been transported here as well.. he tried to shake off the feeling and enjoy Oz.

"Um.. are you okay there.. Bryson?" The munchkin, Donna asked.

He shook his head quickly and got up.

He had been on the grown for a good 30 minutes, taking it all in.. the sign post making some smart remarks he paid no attention to.

"Sorry... it's just... uh..."

Was he supposed to say? Did everyone here know that in another world this was all fiction? He might sound crazy...

"I just.. didn't... feel well.."

She gave him an odd look, as if that was impossible, squinting at him as if he were an alien. Then again, she probably wouldn't be that surprised, being Oz and all.

"I knew I shouldn't have woken up today." The sign post grumbled.

Donna pursed her lips and looked back at him, shurgging, it looked like she was mouthing something to him but Bryson couldn't make it out.

She sighed and shrugged again. "Well I'm gonna go and try to contact Glinda, or someone who could help, sign post should keep you c-

"NO!" It instantly rejected in a high pitched voice.

Donna gave the sign post an amused look and turned around, sighing heavily. "Well... he's not one to argue, so I'll go ahead and introduce you to the rest of the Munchkins."

They walked into another route that Bryson didn't even see, it was surrounded by trees cut in odd shapes as they approached the land, it looked like the one from the movie, mixed with elements from other interperations, it was odd to see it up-close, he couldn't help but smile at it, he was actually in Oz and he was looking right at Munchkin Land. He admired the tiny houses all around him, and the trees with exotic looking fruit and blue birds chirping in them. In the distance, he could see a small road with blue houses covering the setting, blue birds chirping in the trees..

The place was enchanting to him... he didn't wanna leave this place. He would stay for sure, if it weren't for the worry of his mom and his dog.

Donna then introduced Bryson to several munchkins, he couldn't help but smile at seeing them all in person, they all greeted them warmly and he admired how welcoming and sweet they were, they had a variety of different clothing, all of them colorful, but blue seemed to be the most popular color among them.

"So you're from.. Tennessee?" one of them asked in the crowd.

He nodded and smiled. "Yep."

"I've never heard of such a place..."

"Well, it's, it's.. pretty far from here..." He noted.

"Say.. that wouldn't be anywhere near Kansas, would it?" Another asked.

"It's.. fairly close to it, yes... same country.." He replied, trying not to say something they would find odd, afterall this was a completley different world.

"Maybe Dorothy could help him then!" one exclamied.

He felt the butterflies in his stomach at her name, he wondered just which Dorothy this was, anyways. Who knows.. this place was a mixed bag really.

Donna smiled and nodded. "Oh yes! I knew he reminded me of someone. But is Dorothy even here today?"

"We haven't seen her today but I just contacted Glinda and she should be here in a few seconds, we'll see what we can do." Another one replied, shutting a door from his house behind him, he was dark-skinned with a gray beard.

"Thank you, Nook." Donna smiled.

A few moments later, a pink bubble appeared, everyone was suddenly silent as they stared at it, Bryson included, he knew it had to be Glinda. Seconds after, the bubble disappeared and revealed a beautiful young woman with curly blonde hair dressed in a white dress, her wand in her hand.

It was breathtaking, seeing her in person of course, just like the land in general.

She smiled and greeted everyone kindly, she carried herself in an elegant manner, her body language showing someone of royalty.

After a while she walked up to him and smiled.

"I've been hearing an awful lot about you lately... Bryson... that is your name, correct?"

He smiled at hearing her say his name, and nodded. "That's right."

"Well... I guess you're trying to get home, then?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Well.. I'm not in the biggest hurry... I just wanna find my dog... and see if... my mother is okay.. last time I saw her she was... in trouble..." He explained, dissappinted in himself that he just let her go and didn't help, he was too afriad.. he felt like a coward.

"I see..." she responded, looking down at the yellow brick road, it seemed like she was thinking.

He looked around the land and admired it until his thoughts were interrupted by her soft voice.

"Well... you're probably going to have to ask the king for help, and he's busy in Emerald City, which is very far from here. I could just transport you there easily but..." She looked at the Munckins then back at Bryson.

"Well.. there's been a bit of a.. problem..."

People kept talking about a "problem" but what problem? What was going on in Oz, anyways?

"But.. to keep you safe I'm going to send some people to go with you."

"Finley!" She called out as a small wigned monkey flew over to her.

Bryson smiled, knowing who he was, of course.

He landed next to Glinda, in his blue bellhop suit. "Yes, Glinda?"

She gestured over to Bryson. "Bryson here needs to go the Emerald City to talk to King Scarecrow, I was wondering if you would mind accompanying him on his journey."

So Scarecrow was the king... Bryson was anxious to talk to him, Scarecrow was always his favorite, used to dress up as him when he was a kid.

The small primate looked over at Bryson and smiled. "Of course!" He flew over to Bryson and took off his hat. "At your service, sir! I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Bryson smiled at him. "Well, thank you, I appreciate it." He replied gratefully, shaking his small hairy hand.

"Anytime, sir!"

"You can call me Bryson."

"Oh, okay, Bryson!"

She smiled and nodded at them. "Well.. I'd hate to just to send you off so suddenly.. but you need to get going. " She kissed his forehead for good luck, leaving him blushing.

But before he could get a move on, Donna called, "I found Dorothy!"

Bryson's heart pounded as Donna made her way through the crowd, with a smiling girl that greeted everyone kindly. And it was Dorothy. She looked just like Judy Garland, too. Her hair was down and curled, she was wearing her familar blue gignam dress, it was stunning to see her person.

He akwardly fiddled in his pockets, nervous as she came closer to him, his eyes dialeted.

What was he gonna do? No way he would form a complete sentence while she was in his presence...

He was actually gonna interact with Dorothy..

He tried to act normal as she looked at him...

Dorothy just looked at him.

She smiled and walked up to him, she was a bit shorter then he imagined, not that he had a problem with it.

He wiped off his hands on his pants as she shook his hand.

His hand was probably sweaty, and it was basically shaking so he quickly stuffed it in his pocket after they were done shaking hands, praying no one, in particulary her, didn't notice his reacton to seeing her.

"I'm Dorothy. Dorothy Gale."

"Bryson Scott.." He replied, almost unable to speak.

"Bryson... I've never heard that name, I like it."

Now she was saying she liked his name... heck, she said his name at all, he never thought he'd hear it come from her mouth.

"Thanks." He replied. "I like yours too.." _Oh god, that was bad..._ he thought to himself, as he noticed Glinda smirking, she probably knew how he felt at the moment, which was embarrassing.

"Thank you." She responded with a smile. "So... you need to get back home?" She asked.

"Yep..." He replied with a nod.

"I've been there." She replied. "I'm not quite sure I can help you, the only way I could've is gone now, but I suppose someone in the Emerald City could." She told him hopefully.

"Well he should probably start going now... to get to the Emerald City.. just follow the yellow brick road.." She explained, she almost seemed eager to have him get to the Emerald City, he wondered why.

"Perhaps you should go with him as well, Dorothy... he probably will need help from as many people as he can, he hasn't been here for very long, so he's not familiar with the land.. he's around the same area as you are, same country I hear, in Tennessee, if you've heard of it."

"Oh, yes, I used to have family there, I believe."

"Well good, Bryson can have someone to relate to it seems. If you don't mind going, that is."

"Oh, not at all, I'd love to go with him." She looked down at Finley. "Is Finley coming too?"

Glinda nodded her head and yes and Dorothy smiled. "Great!"

"Well better get going now.. Bryson... to get to the Emerald City, just follow the yellow bric road, these two can tell you more." She pointed with her wand to the road and nodded, smiling at those words as he slowly walked the road, looking back at Glinda and Munchkins as they motioned for the trio to continue.

He started walking down the road, Finley and Dorothy by his side, he honestly was enjoying himself, he almost looked forward to what was ahead, he always had a thirst for an adventure. Not to mention Dorothy being right next to him, he couldn't help but be nervous, he couldn't wrap his head around it.. it was quite literally a dream come true.

As they made their way down the road, Bryson admired the scenery, entranced as he looked over the magical land, pondering over what lied ahead of them.


	6. Chapter 6

Finley had gone off to into the forest of Oz, he told them he was going to make sure the coast was clear, he didn't specify what though, and when Bryson questioned him, he seemed uneasy. Something was going on here, and he was determined to find out. But for now, he'd leave it be. Finley had been gone for a while now and he and Dorothy were both getting bored of walking down the road, so she started to make conversation.

"So... what's Tennessee like, Bryson?"

He stopped studying the fascinating land to answer to her soft voice.

"Pardon?" He asked, attempting to mirror her kind of language.

"I asked what Tennesse's like." She confirmed sweetly.

"Oh. Well uh.. it's. it's nice... it's just... I'm not really where the nice... stuff is.." He clumisly replied, not putting much thought in to what he was saying, not while Dorothy Gale was walking with him, and making conversation with him.

She smiled, seeming amused at his awkward phrasing as she looked down and put both her hands behind her.

He admired her, there was something different about her, the way she moved, the way she spoke, carried herself, he supposed it could be a time gap thing.. but there was something else.

"You know, you're the first person I've met here that's from the same place as me. I suppose I can relate to you... though, it's really wonderful here, isn't it? I love the way it looks here. It fascinates me." She explained, wide eyed with a smile as she looked around, then back at him, she looked as if she wasn't sure if he would know what she meant, her smile a bit faded.

He grinned and nodded like a kid. "I know, right..." He wasn't sure she would find that kind of speach normal, but he went on regardless. "It's just... it's I love it, it's so different and colorful, it's beautiful."

She looked at him shockingly, but in a good way, flashing a radiant smile at him. "Finally someone else understands it, it's hard for people to get it." She explained.

"I know the feeling. You can't tell a lot of people or you'll get judged by most of them.."

"Exactly.. my aunt and uncle just say that I need to grow up and it's just immature, childish nonsense."

"My parents would say the exact same thing. Mostly my dad..." He trailed off.. looking away from her and deeply into the forest of Oz. Actually, he hadn't looked at her very much the entire walk, he knew if he looked for long he wouldn't be able to stop, but he couldn't help it and looked at her as he spoke, but not enough for her to notice.

"So... how long do you think it should take to get to the Emerald City?"

She shrugged and shook her head. "I can't quite say.. it'll proably be a while before we get there."

He almost didn't pay attention to her words, only the way she said them and how they sounded when they came out of her mouth, her doe eyes were deep pools of emotion, her little nose was adorable and her big kissable lips.

His mind wandered off for a bit until he heard Finley yelling in the distance, with the sound of his wings flapping.

"Guys.. guys!" He cried out.

"What is it?" asked Dorothy.

"I saw.. I saw.. Kalidahs!" He cried out.

Bryson knew what he was talking about and gulped in fear.

Dorothy turned to him. "Kalidahs are creatures with bodies like bears, heads like tigers, and so on.. they're not very pleasant I hear." Dorothy explained, unaware of the fact he already knew.

Bryson took a deep breath. "Yeah.. that.. doesn't sound very nice.."

"It's not! It's really, not good, it is very, very, bad, horrible, terrible, dreadful, awful, horrid, it is the total oppisote of postive!" He took a breath "It is-

"That's enough Finley.." Dorothy told him... "We better get going now.." She stated, obviously fearful of the creatures.

They all nodded in agreement and walked speedily, but as they started seeing the bushes moves and the sounds of the creatures, they started to run, Finley had a hard time so Bryson picked him up and put him on his shoulder.

"T-Thanks..." Finley said, out of breath.

Bryson didn't find it comfortable so he took Finley and scooped him in his arms instead. "No problem.." He replied, also out of breath.

As they ran they stopped and realized the yellow brick road came to an end, and it was now a cliff, it continued a few feet away but there was no way the could cross it, they would fall to their doom.

"Uh.. uh.. Finley.. you can fly... so uh.."

"I'm not gonna be able to carry you! Are you serious?! Look at small I am! I once carried this one guy, his name was Paul, and my Oz he was one of the skinniest, tiniest, munchkins you'll ever see and I couldn't last, so I doubt I'll be able to carry you!

"Really? "

"No, I just said that to try and convince you!" He admitted, throwing his arms up in defeat.

Bryson furrowed his eyebrows gave him a slightly amused look, then turned his head back and noticed that the noises of the creatures were getting closer to them.

"You're gonna have to wing it! Literally!"

Bryson scoffed at his own dumb joke and looked back. "Just hurry.. carry Dorothy first, I'm sure she's lighter than me."

"Are you sure? I'm not quite sure he'll have time to carry us both before they get here, and you need to get the Emerald City more than me..."

He admired her kindess but shook his head. "No, no, and we don't have time to argue, I'd feel guilty if you went first.. NOW GO!" He exclaimed.

Finley hesitated, but then heard them approaching the group.

He screamed in fear and started to pick Dorothy up, just barley managing to get her, Dorothy began to protest but she gave up as Finley slowly dragged her to the other side of the yellow brick road. Finley groaned and almost fell several times, he stopped flapping his wings for a few seconds every now and then, but he finally managed to lay her down on the other side. He then fell down and gasped for air.

"Oh Oz... that was.. not fun.." He managed to cry out.

Bryson looked back and gasped, now just a few feet away from four small Kalidahs. They weren't fully grown but they still looked fierece, there teeth could give the Lion a run for his money. 

"Finley..." Bryson holored.

"FINLEY!" He yelled again.

Dorothy nudged Finley. "Get up, Finley, hurry!"

Finley got up. "Huh?!" He gave a shocked look as he noticed the creatures were starting to close in on Bryson and he sprinted off the cliff, flying rapidly as he swooped down to Bryson and took him away, just as the Kalidahs were about to strike.

He struggled even more with carrying Bryson, and as he slowly made his way to the other side the Kalidahs backed up and looked like they were going to jump over to them.

"Finley.. no pressure but ya might wanna step it up!" He told him as he looked at the creatures.

Finley flapped as fast as his little wings could carry him, but then two of the Kalidahs pounced into the air at them and started to bite at them, they all screamed and Finley started spinning in the air and they both tried to fight back but to no avail, one bit Finley hard on him, his suit almost shredded just from the one bite.

Bryson always hated heights, and he couldn't help but look down. He wasn't sure if he'd rather die by falling or being eaten. Either way, not a good way to go.

He wanted to try and push them off, but they could easily bite off his his hand clean off. Finley almost got to the other side, but was tugged back by the beasts, but then a rock was thrown at by the two Kalidahs.

They looked over and saw Dorothy had a few rocks with her and started throwing them at the monsters, careful not to harm Finley or Bryson as they ducked and let them hit the Kalidahs, who eventually couldn't take the pain and fell to their doom, but while doing so, they tried to bring Finley down with him, Bryson kicked at the Kalidahs, careful to not have his foot bitten, and they fell down, but the two other Kalidahs suddenly leaped out and swiped at Finley and Bryson, the surprise made Finley twirl around as Finley threw Bryson to the other side.

Finley then quickkly flew to the other side, the Kalidahs almost fell but then clung to the edge, their sharp claws digging into the yellow brick road, but Bryson intervened and smashed the rocks against the beasts and they fell to their death.

They all fell down from exhaustion and relief, breathing heavily.

"This is gonna be a long journey..." Bryson mumbled.


	7. Chapter 7

Their exhausted bodies stayed glued to the yellow brick road, laying down as their breathing started to get less and less heavy, slowly recovering from the terryifying events that just occured.

Bryson glanced over at Dorothy, admiring her beauty as she pursed her lips and took a deep breath as he bit down on his bottom lip.

He wiped off his mouth and cleared his throat, the trio then slowly got back up, stretching and groaning.

"That was um.. that was.. somethin'.." Bryson stated.

Dorothy and Finley simply nodded.

"By the way, thanks for flying us over here, Finley."

Finley smiled cheerfully. "No problem. It's my job to make sure you guys stay safe, and I will stay loyal to you both. No matter what. Even if there was like... the biggest, scariest, most intelligent thing you could never outwit, like we're talking big buisness... like something that's invincible..."

Bryson and Dorothy smirked and looked at each other as Finley went on.

"Even if I had to say.. give up my left wing... I'd do it if it kept you guys safe.. ev-

"You're an animiated little fella, aren't you?" Bryson grinned and patted his shoulder, on accident, his hand slightly brushed against the right side of his wing, Finley wincing in response. "Oh.. right.. your wing..."

Finley grunted. "Yeah... I forgot about that.."

"You gonna be okay?" Bryson asked worridely.

"Of course.." Finley put on a, presumbaly, fake smile. "It's nothing.. it'll be alright.."

"You sure?"

"Mm hmm."

"Alrighty then... if you're sure... if it starts to hurt to much.. just tell us, we'll help you somehow. Speaking of which.. we owe you one for saving our butts, Dorothy."

She smirked at him and shook her head. "Not a problem at all. I'm a little concerned about you two... will you be okay?"

"Well Finley's the one who got it the worst.. me? I'm hurt and all but I'll be fine.. it's him I'd worried about.."

"Listen, I'll be alright, if it gets bad I'll tell you." He promised.

Bryson nodded. "Well, I guess we better get going now."

They all agreed and walked off back into the road, a forest around them.

They remained silent as they trudged down the road, until once again, the road ended, and this time, it appeared there was not another side to cross over to. However, they could all hear the sound of a waterfall, and looked down to see a river. It appeared that the river was the only possible way they could continue to the Emerald City.

Dorothy gave a confused look. "I'm certain that there used to be a bridge over this river..." She furrowed her eyebrows.

Finley shrugged. "Uh.. well uh... who... who knows..." He stuttered. Both Bryson and Dorothy could tell he was trying to hide something.

"Finley.. is there something you know that we don't?" Dorothy questioned.

Finley shook his head and snorted. "Wha.. pfff... if I knew something you needed to know I'd, I'd.. I'd tell you."

"You've never been a convincing liar." Dorothy told him. "Now.. how do you suppose we could cross that river?" She asked.

"Well.. I guess we could buid a boat of some sort but.. I don't think we have the time or the resources to do that." He wasn't sure what else they could do, he never felt like he was the brightest when it came to these kind of things. "Or... I-I dunno, maybe we should just go in the woods and keep walking there until the river ends, then if the yellow brick road continues, we'll get back on it."

"Little dangerous, don't ya think?" Finley asked.

"Well.. it is.. but.. I dunno.." He responded in defeat.

"Wait... I believe that my friend Tin Man lives somewhere in those woods." She pointed to the right. "I suppose he could help us build a boat or a bridge." She proposed.

"Alright." Bryson replied, excited he could see the Tin Man in person.

They walked off from the road and into the forest, cautiously scanning the area for any danger, fortunately, they hadn't found any.

They had been walking for a good 10 minutes before finally finding a small cabin, logs surrouding the entire area.

"Well, this is it. I hope he's home." Dorothy told them.

"Should we go.. knock?" Bryson asked.

Finley and Dorothy nodded and walked with Bryson. They walked over the big logs and tall plants carefully, who knows what could happen, it was Oz after all.

They made their way to the door, Dorothy knocked.

They stood there for a few moments, Bryson admired the scenery until the door was suddenly swung open, Bryson jumped a bit and was face to face with the Tin Man. He looked.. well... not human. At all. Didn't look like make up, nor some sort of animatronic, it was literally like.. well just what he was.. a man made out of tin.

"Dorothy, Finley, nice to see you, what are you doing out here today?" He said, it was odd to see him talk, it wasn't like some slow moving machine or robot, it was very human like.

He looked down at Bryson and smiled. "Forgive me, but I believe we haven't met. What's your name?" Tin Man asked, offering his hand.

Bryson smiled and shook his hand, it felt weird, shaking the Tin Man's hand, and not to mention it felt weird shaking his hand when he was made out of Tin. "I'm Bryson."

Tin Man smiled. "Nice to meet you. I'm Tin Man."

"Nice to meet you too." Bryson replied.

"Bryson's trying to get back home, he's from the same place I am, we're going to Emerald City to see if someone could help him." Dorothy explained.

"And we're at a bit of a dead end, the yellow brick road stops back there and the only way to cross is with a boat or something. You think you can help us?" Finley continued.

Tin Man nodded and smiled. "Of course, there's plenty of trees here I could use, it'll take a while but I'll have it done soon. In the meantime, you guys can stay in my cabin, make yourselves at home." He smiled warmly and they all went in to the house.

Dorothy turned to Tin Man. "Are you sure you don't want us to help?" She asked, looking at him with her big brown eyes.

"That's alright, Dorothy. Besides, it's dangerous out there. You need to stay in here." Dorothy opened her mouth to protest, but he patted her on the shoulder and smiled at the group, then walked out and Dorothy decided not to push it.

They all looked around in the small cabin. "It'll probably take a while for Tin Man to build that boat. Maybe we should spend the night in here." Finley suggested.

"Probably." Bryson agreed.

Finley yawned and flopped himself on the bunk bed nearby, he must've been exhausted after what happened with the Kadilahs, and Bryson could feel the exhaustion slowly creeping its way into him and he also yawned.

Dorothy then yawned a few moments later. "I think I'm gonna join Finley and go to sleep."

"Yeah, me too. You can have the top bed, I'll just sleep on that couch." Bryson told her, pointing over to it.

"No, no, no, I'm not the one who was attacked by a vicious best, barley dangling from a small monkey over a cliff, I think you need it more than I do." She responded with a grin.

Bryson chuckled and shrugged. "Well yeah, but then I'd just feel rude."

"It's okay." She laughed and playfully nudged him.

He grinned and nudged her back, walking to the bed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She replied with a smile. "I appreciate your generosity, though." She teased.

"Anytime..." He responded with a smirk, he climbed up the high bunk and sank down into it. He was tired before, but talking with Dorothy just made his heart race and it was all he could think about. He felt guilty that she wasn't the one in the bed, but she was being stubborn and he decided not to push it.

Eventually sleep overtook him, but in the middle of the night, the sounds of yelling and vicious laughing awoke him. He yawned and sat up, he noticed it was night time from the windows and climbed down from his bed, Dorothy was gone but Finley was still sound alseep.

Bryson rushed out the door and searched for what the commotion was. He turned his head and was shocked to find a huge ball of fire.

"Whoah!" He exclaimed.

He could hear the sound of Tin Man yelling, and he sprinted to the other side of the cabin to find Tin Man and Dorothy against the Cabin, both of them were shaking a bit, mostly Dorothy.

Tin Man protectively held Dorothy. Bryson looked over and was surprised to see the Wicked Witch of the West.

How was she alive? She died. But this was Oz, Bryson thought, about anything could happen.

His mouth was agape at seeing her in person, like the others, but where those were enchanting, this was more horrifying, her skin looked more green that an anything else he had read or seen, he couldn't describe, it was so... real.

She was dressed in the classic get up, black dress, the pointy hat, all topped off with that infamous broom and wart. Not to mention, those pointy nails...

Much more frightening in person. He dreaded to here that terrible voice..

She leaned her head back and chuckled, Bryson shuddered in response.

She then put up her hands and laughed and her broom dropped, the sound of her making Bryson cringe, feeling odd to hear it up close and in real life. It wasn't like when he was a scared little 3 year old, no remote to turn it off, no couch to hide behind.

Tin Man had his axe in his hand, and it started to shake and it then flew off, circling Dorothy and Tin Man, it then flew into Dorothy, but she screamed and ducked, leaving in to fly through cabin, smashing its windows. The Witch was levitating it.

_Uh oh... _Bryson thought worridely.

If she had the power to levitate, who knew what she was going to do.

All he could do was watch, he felt like such a coward, but he decided to rush in to the scene.

Dorothy and Tin Man quickly turned their heads to him.

"Bryson, you and Dorothy need to leave." Tin Man commanded.

The Witch giggled creepily tapped her nails together in an intimidating manner.

"Bryson... you're the one I've been hearing about.." She laughed maniacally and yet again put up her hands, throwing Tin Man a few feet away, and then Bryson was suddenly lifted up in the air, Dorothy gasped at his predicament, Bryson started to panic as he no longer had much control with his body, she could do whatever she wanted, stop his heart, snap his neck...

But she didn't.

She just toyed with him and started moving around his arms, then she started spinning him around in a circle rapidly, Bryson could feel himself panic and almost threw up, he could feel himself just trembling, he was getting dizzy, and he was starting to lose control, he felt a panic attack coming on as the Witch laughed and threw him hard into the Cabin, Dorothy yelped and the Witch laughing even more. Bryson got on his hands and knees, clenching his fists, trying his hardest not to throw up, he was definitely having an anxiety attack again.

His stomach felt full, he coughed as his mind raced, he wanted the attack to be over quickly.

He could hear the metallic sounds of Tin Man's large foot steps running back towards the Witch, Tin Man was about to get back his axe but was yet again lifted in the air by the Witch, Bryson slowly crawled into the cabin and searched for the axe, but couldn't find it. He started to walk back out but suddenly, the cabin was on fire, the Witch was laughing, she must've thrown a large fire ball at it.

Bryson paniced and took a deep breath, trying to rid of his anxiety attack, he looked over and noticed Finley wasn't there, he looked around but couldn't find him, hopefully he wasn't hurt just wandered off somewhere in fear.

He started to get in control, but only a little bit, he rushed to other side of the cabin and scanned the area for the axe, he noticed the glass on the other side was shattered, he looked down and there it was.

He bent down to pick it up, it was far heavier than he imagined but he managed to lift it up, he walked back to the Witch and tried to make sure she wouldn't see it, because if she got a hold of it, who knows what could happen.

He rushed back to the scene to find Tin Man on the ground, obviously dizzy, and looked in shock as Dorothy was now the one in the air.

Bryson felt anger rush through his body, he made his way over to Tin Man and gave him the axe.

Tin Man looked up at him and took the axe. "Thank you."

Tin Man slowly lifted himself up and swang his axe over his shoulder, gripping on to it. He then ran up to the Witch and started to swing at her, but she dodged and dropped Dorothy down hard on the dirt. Bryson rushed over to Dorothy and kneeled down next to her. "You okay?" He asked worridley.

She groaned and nodded, clearing her throat. "I'll be fine.."

The Witch started to try and levitate the axe once again, Tin Man was trying so hard to not let it fly away, he was about to loose but Bryson looke down and saw the Witch's broom on the floor, he ran over to it and picked it up.

The Witch growled and looked at him angrily, Bryson was afriad of the fact her attention was now on him but it was all he could do, she jerked her hands and Tin Man flew back a bit, but not as far as before, his axe, however was sent flying, but luckily, a nearby tree stopped it and it fell to the ground. Tin Man sprinted over to it and picked it up as the Witch started to close in on Bryson, but Tin Man pounced on the Witch and started to try and slam it onto her face, but of course the Witch used her levitation to stop it and sturggled against Tin Man.

Tin Man turned to Bryson and Dorothy. "You guys need to go. The river is close, the boat is basically finished, if you can find Finley he can fly it down and you can all get in it, but if you don't find it.." He stopped and struggled more. "JUST RUN!" He yelled, the Witch then threw his axe straight into Tin Man's face, then flew him several feet away into the trees, his weight knocking several of them down.

"Tin Man!" Dorothy exclaimed. The Witch laughed loudly and started to throw several fireballs all over the place, the whole forest was now on fire, and Bryson and Dorothy dodges them.

"Run!" Bryson yelled, he and Dorothy then started running as fast as they could into the woods, fire balls flying everywhere.

One large one flew in between them and they both jumped and landed on the ground.

They groaned and Bryson got up, grabbing Dorothy's hand to help her up, and they again started running.

"Wait.. what about Finley?" Dorothy asked between heavy breaths as she kept running.

"WHAT ABOUT ME?!" Finley asked, now in between them.

"Where'd you come from?!" Bryson asked.

"You still don't know?! Well when a mommy monkey and a daddy mo-"

"Oh you know what I mean!" Bryson holored, sighing.

They kept running when Bryson realized something.

"Shit, we didn't get the boat!"

"You watch your mouth mister!" Finley scolded playfully.

"Oh shut up..." Bryson mumbled. "Come on, let's go get it."

They sighed collectively, turned around and sprinted back in a hurry, dodging the fireballs, Dorothy could see the boat. "There it is!" She pointed to it.

They nodded and ran to it but suddenly, the Witch was now right in front of him with an evil grin, she lifted up her hand, but then Tin Man's axe flew into their sight and slightly scraped her hand. "OW!" She screamed in pain and held her hands. She was no longer playing with them. She loooked outraged.

"I'm going to kill each and every one of you brats!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, her eyes filled with anger, they almost looked red.

But Tin Man rushed in and picked his axe back up and yet again started swinging at her, turning to the group. His face was dented from the axe, but he would be okay.

"Get out of here!" He yelled.

They ran towards the boat and Bryson sighed heavily. "It's gonna take a while to move this thing..."

But all three of them used all the strength in their bodies and slowly pushed it towards the river, the Witch seemed to be preoccupied with Tin Man, and every so often the trio would look to see what was going on. Tin Man was dodging fire balls, the Witch, dodging his axe.

They kept pushing and pushing, until they almost fell off the cliff, they had finally made it and Bryson looked at Finley.

"Finley, I know your wing is injured, but can you fly us and this boat down to the river?"

Finley nodded, he had a worried look, but then replaced that look with a look of confidence.

But just as Finley started to struggle and pick up the boat, the axe was literally on fire and was rushing towards them, all three ducked but the shock of it sent them and the boat falling into the river.


	8. Chapter 8

As they plunged to the river, Bryson looked over at Finley, who was giving all the strength he had to try and fly, but his wing was just to injured, just as he was about to look at Dorothy he splashed hard into the water, fear immediately washed over him.

Drowning was one of his worst fears, he wasn't a very good swimmer at all and he started to panic, he could already feel another anixety attack coming on.

He tried his hardest to swim up to land but he just couldn't do it, he finally started to kick his way to the surface, but just then a wave kicked him back further down in the river, every time he almost resurfaced, he was knocked back under by progressively larger waves, it didn't help that it was night time.

It was definitely one of the most frightening experiences of his life. He couldn't breathe, he had water rushing in through his nose and mouth, his mind was racing and he was unable to form coherent thoughts but at the same time his instincts were continuously telling him that he needed to get to the surface. He then heard a gigantic splash in the water. He looked over and could make out the Tin Man's cabin. He couldn't believe it. The Witch sent the whole damn house in the river.

It was dangerously close, he could see fire from it start to disolve from the water, he rapidly kicked his feet and arms, trying hard to get resurfaced, because if it came much closer it would crush him and he would be stuck at the bottom of the river.

As it eased closer to him, he noticed the door was burnt off and he clumsily started to swim inside of the cabin, he started to climb up and try to escape through the shaddered window, but then a tree was sent falling into the river as well, and not just one, a good bit of them, it was as if the crazy bitch was trying to send all of Oz into the river, he looked over to see if he could exit through the other window, but it was to close to the edge and there was no way he could escape that way, not to mention the hole was to small to get out from.

He rushed back outside of the cabin and a tree came crashing down, Bryson ducked as it destoryed half the cabin. He dodged the tree and climbed over it, he closed his eyes and finally started to swim up to the surface, his stomach ached and his head was spinning as he finally got his head out from under the river, his hair and clothes dripping with water.

He could see Dorothy and Finley safe in the boat, a few feet away from him, he tried to swim, but barley got anywhere, it was taking him what felt like an eternity to reach the boat.

But he finally made it after a while and started to climb up on the boat, Dorothy and Finley gasping in surprise as he plumped down in the boat, breathing heavily, water dripping in from the boat, Finley was fairly wet, his hat was gone. Dorothy wasn't very wet all, mostly just her shoes and the bottom of her dress.

Bryson fell on his knees in the boat, and put his hands over his face, he was shaking and he was having one of the biggest anxiety attacks of his life.

He coughed as he tried to get over the attack, but it wouldn't go away, he closed his eyes and tried to make it go away, but he couldn't.

He kept coughing and groaning, his hand gripping his own stomach, the other gripping on the boat.

Dorothy kneeled down and had a concerned look on her face. "Br.."

She was interuptted by more coughing and croaning, Bryson scooted up to the boat and took deep breaths.

"Uh..Brys-" Finley started to say before he was also interuptted by the coughing.

Bryson sighed deeply, it just wouldn't go away, and that thought just made it worse.

"Wha.. what's wrong?" Dorothy continued.

Bryson shook his head rapidly and started to speak but couldn't.

"I-I.. j.." He kept coughing and breathing heavy.

"What's happening to him?" Finley asked quietly.

"It's.. a-an uh.. it's.. an-.. anxi-anxiety att-ack.." Bryson suddenly mustered up.

He covered his face and he could feel Dorothy lighty rubbing his arm, trying to soothe him, he shuddered at the touch and started to feel better.

His breathing became more quiet and his coughs less frequent.

He looked up and huffed. "S-sorry... about that... that happens.. sometimes."

"It's alright. Are you okay now?" Dorothy asked.

He nodded and sat up.

"That just.. happens if something really bad happens or if I get.. really... nervous.. sometimes.." He explained.

Dorothy and Finley nodded.

"I'm sorry.." Dorothy said gently.

"It's not your fault." Bryson replied.

"I know, but.." Dorothy stopped and sighed.

"Well just tell us if you feel it coming on, we'll help you, Bryson!" Finley told him.

Bryson nodded. "Thanks, I appreciate it... ya know, I've only known you guys for like a day or two but you're definitely the best friends I've ever had... the ones I have back home aren't very nice.. at all. Everything's a joke to them."

Dorothy and Finley smiled warmly. "Sorry to hear that..." Finley told him.

"Thanks.." Bryson replied. They stayed silent for a few seconds before Bryson lifted up his head. "Oh uh.. what happened to Tin Man?"

Both Dorothy and Finley frowned. "We don't know.. I hope he didn't fall in the water, because when there's water.. he rusts.. being made out of Tin and all.." Finley stated.

Bryson nodded and yawned.

"Well... he's probaby still up there.." Bryson pointed out. "Too bad about his house though..."

"You saw?" asked Dorothy.

Bryson scoffed. "Yeah, the whole thing almost crushed me, I'm lucky I got out because that thing would've crushed me and I'd be stuck at the bottom of the river."

Dorothy gasped and frowned, patting his arm. "Poor thing..." She muttered.

He had to admit, maybe all of that was worth it if it meant getting attention from Dorothy.

"Yeah.. doesn't help I'm not that great of a swimmer, I mean it took me forever to get to this boat..."

"I'm not that great either, I was lucky this boat was so close to me." Dorothy said.

"And I was so unlucky that I was under it while it crushed my bones..." Finley joked.

Bryson laughed through his breath and shook his head. "You're a piece of work, aren't you Finley?"

"I try to be." He responded.

Bryson chuckled. There was more silence for a while, until they could hear the sound of grunting above them.

They looked up and could see two figures fighting each other, one was the Witch, they could tell from that pointy hat, the other was Tin Man, they could tell from the sounds of metal.

They were happy that Tin Man wasn't rusted in the river, but not so much the Witch was causing him trouble.

"Oh no! I wish we could help!" Dorothy exclaimed.

Bryson thought for a minute.. "Wait... water kills the Witch, right?" He asked, he presumed so, he wasn't sure how she was alive but it seemed to work the first time.

Dorothy nodded. "Yes.. how'd you know?"

Bryson stopped. He couldn't tell them in his world they were fictional characters. How would they react to that?

"Uh... that.. sign post told me.. weird guy.. or post, I guess..." He fibbed.

Dorothy and Finley seemed to buy his story.

"Okay, but how are we supposed to get the Witch into the water?" questioned Finley.

"That's what I was thinking... look, I know this is asking for a lot but... could you fly up there and shove her in the water.. maybe?" He felt guilty, he could be helping take a life, but then again, who was to say she wouldn't come back anyway?

Finley groaned. "I'll try..." Finley mustered up all he had and started to fly. "Don't hurt yourself!" Bryson urged, careful to not let the Witch hear.

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea.. what if he gets hurt?" asked Bryson. "Now I feel bad."

"Well it's all we can do... besides, Tin Man will protect him.." Dorothy assured.

Finley's flying was slow, but eventually he tackled the Witch and she fell to the ground.

Bryson and Dorothy could only see their silhouettes, but could still make out what was going on.

The Witch threw Finley to the ground but Tin Man quickly shoved the Witch completely off of the edge.

"Whoah!" Bryson and Dorothy exclaimed.

They both flinched as she splashed in the water.

Bryson assumed she was dead, it looked like she was melting, no body, just her clothes, her hat floating.

But maybe she could come back. She just did, after all.

They looked up at Finley and Tin Man.

Finley slowly made his way back to the boat and Tin Man holored "I might try and catch up with you guys later!"

"Alright!" Dorothy yelled back.

Tin Man waved and walked back into the forest.

Bryson turned to Dorothy and Finley. "Were did that Witch come from, anyways?"

"Well when I first got here in Oz, she captured me and I accidently killed her by splashing water on her. I don't know how she came back, but in the middle of the night I heard her confronting Tin Man. I can't believe she came back.. I was terrified..." She explained.

"Well.. she's gone now." Bryson replied. "At least for now, I don't know how she came back the first time but hopefully she doesn't come back again."

Dorothy shrugged. "I hope so.." She muttered.

"Don't worry, me and Finley won't let anything happen to you. Right, Finley?"

"Mmm-hmm." Finley replied with a smile.

Dorothy smiled. "Thanks, you guys. I'm lucky to have you guys as friends."

"No problem..." Bryson replied.

They stayed silent as they admired the atmosphere, Oz looked beautiful in the night time.

Eventually, they all fell alseep.

When Bryson awoke, he was confused for a bit and then remembered where he was.

He still couldn't believe he was in Oz. Heck, he had now been in Oz for a day.

He looked over, Finley was awake but Dorothy was still sleeping. Bryson couldn't help but admire her beauty as she slept.

"Morning!" Finley greeted.

Bryson smied. "Morning... we're still in the river?"

Finley nodded and smiled. "Yep! But we're almost out of it, you wanna know how I know?"

"How?" Bryson asked.

"BECAUSE THERE'S A WATERFALL A FEW FEET AWAY FROM US!"

"What?!" Bryson exclaimed. He looked on and he could see it.

"Okay.. uh.. don't panic... you can fly u-

"I CAN'T FLY YOU EVERYWHERE! MY WING HURTS AND YOU PEOPLE ARE REAALLLY HEAVY!"

"Alright alright!"

"I'M SORRY I'M JUST.. REALLY NERVOUS! I DON'T HANDLE THESE SITUATIONS VERY WELL!"

"Yeah! Me neither!"

Dorothy yawned and rubbed her eyes. "What's going on?" She asked.

"Oh nothing, expect THERE'S A WATERFALL A FEW FEET AWAY AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH!" screamed Finley.

"Finley! Calm down!"

Finley groaned and frowned, shivering from fright.

"Listen! We've go to thi-

Bryson was interuptted as the boat fell of the waterfall.

They all crouched down in the boat as it was sent down in the waterfall, the trio and the boat splashed down in the water, but were pulled by a current.

Bryson was about to panic but suddenly, only their legs were in the water and they were already surfaced.

"OH! NO HELP ME! I'M GONNNAAA DIEEEEE! THIS IS NOT HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO END! NOOO! I'M SO YOUNG THOUGH! WH-"

"Finley!" Bryson shouted.

"MOM?! IS THAT YOU?! I'M COMING FOR YA!" Finley screamed, his eyes shut.

"Finley!" Bryson shouted again while laughing.

Finley opened his eyes.

"Wa... we... oh..."

"Yeah.. I guess that waterfall didn't go to far, now did it?" Bryson asked, relieved.

Finley sighed with relief and fell down.

Bryson looked over at Dorothy, her hair and her bow were wet and she pulled the bow out, her wet curly hair falling down.

"I guess we should uh.." Bryson was distracted by Dorothy.

"Uh.. yeah... we should... get moving.. I guess..." suggested Bryson as he kept looking at Dorothy.

He looked back at Finley who sat up and nodded in agreement.

Bryson looked down and was pleased to see the Yellow Brick Road continue from there.

"Ow!" Finley exclamied.

Bryson turned back. "What?"

Finley growled and pulled off a small fish looking creature from his leg.

"Nothing.. just stupid river fairies."

He tossed it back in the river and the trio walked off into the Yellow Brick Road.

_A/N: Hey, I know I haven't put an author's note yet but I decided, eh, why not. Just want to say thank you to everyone who's reviewed, followed, and favorited so far, I never thought anyone would read so thank you! If you have any questions or anything ya wanna comment on, review! Next chapter should be up soon._


	9. Chapter 9

As they eased down the road, the group noticed their immense hunger, Finley pointed out that there was a Lunch-Box tree nearby, which is a tree with lunchboxes filled with food. They practically feasted, none of them had eaten in a while so they were starving. Afterwards, they carried on, feeling a lot better after eating and having a break.

Bryson happily admired the beautiful scenery, still fascinated by the magical land. But as they continued walking, they stopped when they noticed several chopped down trees, only a few left in the middle, their faces were that of shear despair, their eyes were sealed shut and they seemed to be almost slouching and there were many different rotten red apples on the floor.

"Oh my.." Dorothy whispered.

"What... happened here?" Bryson asked.

"I don't know..." Dorothy responded, she looked absolutely devasted at the sight, she hook her head and looked down at the floor. "I don't know what's been going on lately, it's as if..." She sighed and furrowed her eyebrows, chewing on her lip while she thought. "As if certain places in Oz have the life sucked out of it, and things are just being rearranged and... that Witch coming back out of nowhere and... I don't know what's going on, and.. what if it gets even worse?"

Bryson sighed and shrugged. "I don't know... let's just... not worry about that know. I'm sure it'll be taken care of..." He wasn't sure of his words, but he didn't like seeing Dorothy so glum.

She shrugged. "I hope. I'm asking Scarecrow what's going on when we get to the Emerald City."

Finley's eyes wandered and he appeared as if trying to look innocent, scraping his foot on the floor. Bryson simply gave him a _you know something we don't, don't you _kind of look and Finley simply shrugged and put on a fake smile.

Bryson rolled his eyes but chose to ignore it for the time being.

As they continued onwards, they all pushed their way out of various bushes and thorns, careful not to be hurt. It was harder for Bryson though, for one he was never atheltic or anything, and the fact Oz was such an alien and foreign, place to him, everything looked and felt so strange, he still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact he was even here.

They carried on and climbed through a steep hill, all of them struggled, mostly Bryson, always being a bit clumsy. He fell a few times but Dorothy and Finley were quick to lift him up. They were such good friends. His "friends" back at home would just taunt him, leaving him to pick himself up, but they were always by his side. "Ya know, my friends back in Tennessee were never this nice. They would've just made fun of me and left me to get up by myself." He told them.

"Well that's just plain rude, they don't sound like the best of friends..." Dorothy replied.

"You're right about that..." He replied.

"Well at least you got us!" Finley spoke up cheerfully.

Bryson nodded and smiled. "I'm glad I do, too."

"So am I, most boys in Kansas your age aren't like you, in a good way that is."

"Thanks..." He replied, he had a good idea of why, but he wanted to hear from her, but he decided to wait til later to ask.

As they trudged up the steep hill, the forest stopped and the Yellow Brick Road had three different ways to go, two of them carried on with the regular road but the one in front of them went into a deep, dark looking forest.

"Which way do you think we should go?" asked Bryson.

"That way!" Finley pointed to the right. "Or that way!" Finley then pointed to the left. "ANYWAY BUT THE WAY THAY IS FRONT OF US, PLEASE."

"Now, Finley, you know that the Dark Forest is the closest to the Emerald City..."

"BUT. BUT."

"No, Finley, I'm sorry but we have to go. I don't want to either, but we can't waste time. Bryson and I will make sure nothing happens to you, right, Bryson?"

"Yup." Bryson assured.

Finley sighed and hesitantly moved forward with them, Bryson was pretty terrified himself, but they had to get a move on.

They all slowly walked in to the forest, and they could hear the sounds of several different creatures in the distance, Bryson and Dorothy were almost shaking, Finley was shaking, and they all just wanted to get out of there.

They all looked around, paranoid of what might pop out at them, but then Bryson stepped on something, he looked down and was shocked at what he saw.

"Hold on guys, I think this is.. my stuff..."

"What?" asked Finley.

"Hold on, on." replied Bryson.

The other two looked down at Bryson curiously, the things he was looking at included one of his older backpacks from school with a green notebook and pencil in it, a clothing hanger, a few old children's books, a video game controller, a clock, and ironically, a cheap replica of Ruby Slippers he must've gotten as a kid. All of this was from back home, he was surprised it was in Oz, did it get sucked up in the tornado? If that was the case, then had anything else been brought here? If he was forunate enough, his dog Lucky might be here to. He stuffed everything in the backpack, careful to make sure they didn't see the slippers, he didn't want them to know where he came from this was considered fiction. He put the backpac on his shoulders. "This is all stuff from back at my house... I don't know how it got here, though. A tornado is how I got here in the first place, I guess the tornado hit my house and this stuff came.." If that was the case, was his family okay? His mother was annoying and all, his dad abusive, and his sister, well she just ignored him, but he still didn't want anything to happen to them, including his dog.

"I guess so... I got here from tornado also, I know that feeling..." Dorothy said.

Bryson nodded, once again acting as if he didn't know. "I guess we shouldn't linger on that though.. we need to get moving. The group agreed and they carried on, but Bryson kept thinking about what else might've been transported here.

But suddenly, three strange looking plants that were hanging from a tree with teeth started biting at them. They all screamed in terror, all absolutely petrified, Bryson picked up Finley and started running along with Dorothy.

"I HATE THOSE THINGS! THIS IS WHY I WANTED TO GO ONE OF THE OTHER WAYS! I DON'T CARE IF IT TAKES A CENTURY! AND BESIDES, WE'RE GETTING LOST!" Finley cried out.

He was right, Bryson realized he wasn't quite sure just where to turn, it was so dark he didn't know what was going, just as he felt an anxiety attack coming on, they heard strange yelps and screams, unhuman sounds.

The bushes showed signs of movement and out popped 4 creatures that seemed to have the forms of human men, except that had wheels that finger-nails and toe-nails are composed of, and rolled on all fours, their legs and arms were the same length. "Wheelers..." whispered Finley in terror.

Bryson shivered, these things always creeped him out, and seeing them in person was not a pretty sight, the group got closer to each other, they were being surrounded.

They tried to move but they couldn't, the Wheelers kept making odd noises and moving in odd motions, forcing the group to finally run the other direction, and the Wheelers started chasing after them, still making the strange noises, and the group ran out of the forest and onto the Yellow Brick Road.

They ran to the right and could hear the Wheelers in the distance, when they seemed to be gone, Finley spoke up. "I think they're gone. But we better not go back there. Wheelers are protective of their territory.. but I thought Wheelers only lived in the country of Ev, but who knows with... what's been going on lately..."

Bryson could tell he almost slipped up about knowing something they didn't but chose to ignore it.

"Well uh... let's.. get moving.." Finley suggested.

They carried on down the road, and in the distance they could see a town of some sorts. As they got closer, there was a sign that read "China Town."

"I'm glad this sign doesn't talk..." Bryson said playfully.

"Oh yeah, that one sign post down close to Munchkin Land is quite the wise guy." Finley agreed.

"You're telling me..." Dorothy said.

As they looked on, they realized that there was smoke coming from the town, they could hear screaming and other noises.

"What's going on over there?" Dorothy asked.

"I don't know, we'd better go check it out!" Finley replied, worridely.

They rushed to the China Town, and to their dismay, a high wall made out of thick, solid, polished porcelian of all white, probably intended to protect the fragile little world inside, seemed to have been half destoryed, giving the group a hole to enter in through. They looked around and to their horror they witnessed different winged monkeys flying around, terriozing the citizens of the town, they were no smaller than a baby doll and they were being chased around, Bryson could see smashed porcelian everywhere, which eluded to the terrifying fact that some China people had been killed. Dorothy put her hands to her mouth and shed a few tears, so was Finley, Bryson was on the verge of it.

They looked up ane could see a tall figure standing upon one of the small China houses, the figure had a scepeter looking device in his hand, it was a man, and his eyes seemed to be filled with pure fire and hate, he was muscular looking, shirtless, tan, had short brown hair, and was only wearing black pants and boots.

One side of his face had an awful looking scar that looked like it had been on there for a while, in fact a lot of his face looked as if it had been dropped in acid a long time ago or something of that nature, but it wasn't so deformed he looked inhuman, he seemed to be middle aged.

He was controlling the monkeys, he had a very deep, menacing voice.

His head then turned to the trio and he studied them carefully, they all tensed up and were nervous as to what he would do to them, he jumped off the houe and towered over them, he had to be over 6 feet, Bryson though.

"Well... Dorothy Gale. The girl who killed two witches on accident and then got praised for it. Figures. Oz claims to be such a loving place and they rejoice at the death of a woman that was pratically forced to become wicked." Bryson assumed he was talking about the Witch, he was curious if this guy was just trying justify himself, or if he was being legimate. "I've been wanting to meet you for a while, Dorothy..."

He turned his attention to Bryson, who gulped, causing the man to smirk.

"And Bryson... you're the new kid I've been hearing about." He walked around Bryson as Finley hid behind him and Dorothy, the man simply looked at the small primate and then back at Bryson. "I imagine you find this whole thing enchating and magical...don't you? Well you shouldn't... I mean.. I know on the surface this place looks like the happiest place to be at... but trust me... it's... it's not. It's full of lies and deception, it claims to be filled with loving people... quite the opposite. And you'll discover that soon. I can tell just by looking at you... I don't want to hurt any of you... unless you give me a reason to, as the people in this town have. But I'm going to burn Oz. I don't wanna rule it, contary to popular belief. I want to see it burn and have the life sucked out of it. Why? I'm sure you'll find out sometime. Why am I telling you what I intend to do right in front of you? Because I know you can't stop me from doing it, if that's what you plan on doing. But don't worry, if you don't cause me any trouble, I'll make sure you get back home safely. If you try to interfere, you won't be so... lucky. I'm not the villian here. I know precious Glinda will try to make it out that way. Distort things. Whatever. I'm going to be saving many people a world of hurt by making sure they never come to his place. Just wait and see." And with that, the man called his monkies and left the city to burn to the ground. The trio was speechless, and the man walked off in the distance.

"I think I have a good idea of who chopped down those trees..." Bryson muttered when the man was gone, not knowing what to think.

_A/N: Anyone catch the little semi Wiz reference at the very start? Dumb, I know :P_

_Well a good deal of things happened in this chapter, like a villiian being revealed, I'm looking forward to telling you guys about him, til then, review if you'd like, and see ya on the next chapter, I'm having a blast writing this._


	10. Chapter 10

_A:N: Sorry for delay, been too busy to write, and I wrote about half of a chapter but I didn't think it was neccessary to keep, it didn't really take the story any further and I don't wanna just make several chapters of filler to keep you busy while you wait for the really good stuff, which is coming soon, and I'm really eager to get to that stuff. But for now, enjoy, and review if you'd like. And while you do that, I'm gonna go scratch my head at the fact Toy Story 4 was confirmed. Seriously, WTF?_

The trio was horrifed as they all watched the innocent China Town burn, they wanted to do something, but they didn't know what, and it consumed them with guilt. Guards tried to help but to no avail as the remaining winked monkeys caused havoc throughout the minature town. Eventually, one of the last guards forced them to leave the area, and there was nothing they could do about it, so they carried on to the left side of the Yellow Brick Road. All three had their eyes fixed to the road, disturbed from what they had just witnessed. None of them said a word, Bryson dared to try and break the silence once or twice, but he just ended up sighing instead. Was that man telling the truth? It seemed doubtful, to Bryson it seemed like he was just trying to maniuplate him into joining him or not trying to stop him, but he was always open minded, but he still seriously doubted what the man was saying. But he couldn't deny that he was afraid, what if this guy couldn't be stopped? He had already fallen in love with this place and he didn't know what he'd do if it was destoryed. But he was pretty certain this guy was behind the recent mysterious reapperance of the Witch and different sites in Oz being destroyed, he thought as he adjusted the backpack he had kept from the forest.

Bryson stopped walking when the sounds of his friend's foot steps diminished. He looked over at the two, and then in front of him. There was a man that he assumed was a Winkie Guard dressed in all black and with green skin standing in front of a bridge.

"Uh-oh..." Finley muttered.

"What are we supposed to do now?" asked Bryson.

"Well... who's to say he's not a.. friendly guard?" Dorothy proposed.

"Eh.." Finley responded with obvious fear.

"Let's just... go talk to him... what's the absolute worst that could happen?" Bryson told them.

"He could take us captive to a place where we're tied up and have horrible experiments performed on us, leading to being tortured in a horrific manner and slowly having the life taken out of us to the point we wish for death, where our wish is slowly being granted, thus ultimately leading to our demise." Finley spat out. "Not to mention he has a sword!" Bryson looked over and noticed the sword in his hand and his eyes widended.

Bryson then smirked at Finley's mini little speech and shrugged. "Well... we're not gonna get to the Emerald City if we don't at least try. But I have a plan. One or two of us can go up to him, and he doesn't let us go through, the person who didn't talk to him can distract him... who wants to distract him?" Finley raised his hand. "I've been told I'm quite exceptional at diversions..."

"Alright... I guess Dorothy and I will go talk to him." Bryson and Dorothy walked up the guard, he looked at them and then he spoke up in a very deep voice.

"You can not pass through here, under Mr. Rabadan's orders."

Bryson didn't know who "Mr. Rabadan" was, but he could only assume it was the man who destroyed the China Town. And if that was the case, it looked like these guards were under his control now.

"You have to leave this area, kids." He ordered when they were silent. Bryson nodded at Dorothy and they walked back to Finley, who was hiding behind a massive brown rock. "Alright... distract him!" Bryson whispered. Finley nodded and slowly flew up to the giant rock. He then started making odd screeching noises, Bryson and Dorothy couldn't help but laugh at them.

The guard started looking around. "Uh... hello?" He called out.

"Mooooo!" Finley yelled.

Bryson bit down on his lip to keep his laughter from being heard. The guard obviously looked confused and walked around and held up his sword. Finley kept on with the strange noises and gestured at Bryson and Dorothy to get to the bridge.

They both quickly tip-toed to the bridge when the guard's back was facing them, the guard was now getting closer to the large rock and looked up at Finley.

"Uh... hello!" Finley called out, followed by a nervous laugh. "Uh..." He looked to make sure his friends had made it to the bridge, when he saw they were close to it he carred on. "Um.. well hello there! Uh.. sorry... about that... it's..." Finley cleared his throat and started pretending to cough, and violently. "OH MY GOODNESS.. OOOOH." Finley yelled, he then leaped off the rock and slowly used his wings to fly down a bit, he made it to the ground and kept on with the false coughing. "Oh wow... oh.." He kept on making the odd noises, causing Bryson and Dorothy to continue silently laughing. They crossed the bridge and wondered how Finley would across. "What do we do about Finley?" questioned Bryson.

Dorothy shrugged and turned around to see the beautiful flowers and trees. "Let's go behind one of those trees in case that guard sees us." Bryson nodded and they quietly moved behind the big tree. "I'm not sure about Finley..." she frowned and thought for a bit. Bryson sighed...

_Should have thought that plan through... _He felt like an idiot.

Finley was obviously asking himself how he was gonna cross to, as he carried on with his little performance it was clear to Bryson that he was getting a little worried. Finley stopped and rolled over, the guard looked seriously confused as he looked down at the primate. "Well uh... IFEELBETTERTHANKSBYE." Finley then sprinted across the bridge and was chased after by the guard, who growled in anger. Finley cried out in fear and leaped behind the tree with Bryson and Dorothy.

They all winced at the sound of the guard's footsteps, and winced when he found them behind the tree. "What did I tell you? You can't pass!" He yelled in anger, stomping his foot. He aggressively grabbed Finley, then Bryson by the arm, then Dorothy, who all gasped in slight pain from his strong grasp. Bryson was outraged that he dare hurt his friends. The guard lifted up his sword, all three gasped and Bryson then thought of an idea. He held up his hands and exclaimed "wait!"

The guard opened his eyes and held down his sword, sighing. "Make it quick. What?"

"You realize who this is, right?" He pointed to Dorothy.

"Who?" The guard asked.

"She's _Dorothy Gale." _He squeezed his eyes shut and silently hoped and prayed this would work. He opened his eyes back up quickly when he was given no response.

"You know.. savior of Oz.. killed two witches..."

The guard shook his head in disbelief and studied Dorothy. "Wait... this.. this is Dorothy! I was in the castle when she killed the Witch! I can't believe I didn't recognize you! I'm so, so sorry!"

He then continued, "Listen... I could get into a lot of trouble for this.. but I'll let you and your friends pass, Mr. Rabadan might kill me but.. I need to show my graditude somehow. Repay you... I hope this is enough."

Dorothy nodded and smiled, then shook his hand. "Yes, thank you very much. My friends can cross too, right?"

The guard nodded. "Whatever you wish, Ms. Gale." He bowed to her and she smiled.

She shook his hand a final time and nodded, and the gang carried on traveling to their destination.

They walked on with optimism, not stopping until they realized their surroundings were slowly changing... gone the bright colors, green grass, exotic forests... now they seemed to be walking on a bright red road, but no bricks. Several gigantic red rocks, similar to the one Finley was standing on moments before surrounded them.

Dorothy raised her eyebrows and looked around. "That's... strange... I've never heard about or seen this part of Oz... but at this point I can't say I'm terribly surprised, considering what's been going on as of late.."

Finley scratched his head. "Even I haven't seen it, honestly. I'm kinda worried about this."

"Well... we gotta try." Bryson urged. Dorothy and Finley nodded in agreement and they carried on with walking until they came to a rock that blocked the path in front of them, they looked around and realized they had nowhere else to go, the rock was blocking them.

"Well that's just great. There's no other way to go. I told you guys we should have continued into the Dark Forest." Finley grumbled.

"Weren't you the one who was just begging to get out of that place? In fact, you suggested that we go this way." Bryson argued.

"Uh... well... I, uh...shut up." Finley stuttered.

Bryson simply smirked and shook his head. "We might have to go back that way unless we can get through this rock." For a short moment, Bryson thought about Finley flying them over it, but the rock was far to large.

Bryson sighed and shrugged. "Welp... guess we'd better go back."

The other two sighed as well and started to turn back, but then they heard the sound of rocks crumbling and falling down, a booming sound. They could feel the shadow of something giant and they all turned around and looked on in horror.

To their surprise, the rock seemed to have a face, it was giant.

They all got closer together in fear, Finley gulped. "Uh... this.. this is not... this is not good." Finley stated in fear, Bryson and Dorothy nodded.

It lifted up its hands and smashed the red road, they all yelped in fear. The rock monster then lifted up the pice of the road they were standing on, they fell down and started sliding down, they gripped on to the road fearfully and huddled closer together.

The monster took the road in his hand and put it up to his face, inspecting it and studying the shivering people on it. With the monster's free hand it smashed more of the rock, leaving less of it for the trio hold on to. They panicked when the beast dropped the piece of the road. They looked around as they quickly fell, Bryson looked over at Finley. "Finley! I know it hurts to keep doing this but can you PLEASE fly us right now?"

Finley turned his head quickly in a panic and shrugged with a very worried look. "I'll try my best!" He yelped, he hesitated, but then the monster opened his hands and spreaded them, it looked as if he was going to clap to smash the piece of road, Finley turned to his two friends and hurridely yanked them off the road, both of them yelping in both fear and surprise, they leaped off right before the monster clapped his hands hard, the tiny little piece of the road smashing, sending minature little pieces of it flying everywhere. Finley mustered up all his strength as he held on tight to both Bryson and Dorothy, his wings slowly starting to flap, but just then, they both lost their grip on the primate and started descending to the ground, Finley started holoring after them before Bryson managed to catch Finley by the foot, Dorothy followed after and gripped on to Bryson's foot. They all grunted as they gripped on to one another with all of their might, but Finley just couldn't carry the two heavier humans, and the speed of his wings flapping decreased and was noticeably more clumsy, they were sent flying downwards and to their surprise, there were now red walls on the side, they smashed in to them, almost bouncing from the right side to the left. Finley flapped his wings for a bit every few seconds, before they all collided into a very large rock. It wasn't as painful as they imagined, but it still stung, and the impact caused Finley to drop the two.

Bryson and Dorothy fell but were close enough to the big rock and managed cling on to it, but they looked up and noticed red debris falling from the rock they were clung to. They gasped and started rapidly climbing down from it in a panic, but as they did so, several different rocks, tiny and large suddenly started falling, they looked up to see what the cause of this was and could see not one, but about 6 different red rock giants towering over them, they didn't know what was wrong with them or why they were attacking them, but were to afraid to ponder on that.

The giants started picking up various pieces of road and other rocks that weren't alive, throwing them, any of them could easily crush and kill them. And at the least seriously injure them.

Finley was to weak and tired to fly, and crashed down on top of the rock that Bryson and Dorothy were currently attempting to get off of, and he also lazily started climbing down towards them. But the rocks started coming down like a hail storm, they all covered themselves in hopes of not getting sqaushed by a rock. None of them seriously came crashing, but a few started surrounding them and they started sliding down the rock onto the ground, the three huddled together as the rocks started falling next to them, none of them onto them, except for one final one that was coming right to them, they flinched and tried to move away from it, and just barley dodged it by a few inches, but were now trapped, and just when Bryson could feel another anxiety attack coming on, the floor literally started ripping apart! There was now what looked to be a crack they could slide down in. They looked at each other and nodded, when the hole was large enough for them to slide through, they leaped down in and were soon falling into a dark atmosphere, just before they thought they would plumit to their demise, they realized the drop wasn't too long and fell to the dirt, not to damaged from the impact.

Slowly, they eventually pulled themselves up, dusting themselves off. They looked at their surroudnings and they appeared to be in some sort of very large dark cave, giving off an exeptionally eerie vibe. Finley moved to Bryson's leg and tugged on his jeans. "I don't like this place... at all... what's gonna happen now? What if we can't get out?" Finley asked.

Bryson was worried of the very same thing, but still reached down to pat his small friend's back. "Don't worry... I'm.. I'm sure we'll find something. I mean... this place... it's huge. There's gotta be something."

Finley shrugged in response.

"Maybe we should take a look around." Bryson suggested.

"Should we split up?" asked Finley.

"Nah... I'd rather stay together right now... because if something bad happens well... the more the merrier..."

They looked around the dark place, and while it was dark, they could still manage to make out everything.

There were different boxes and crates of various color and size, and what looked to be a map on the side of the cave's wall. It was a map of Oz that included the Yellow Brick Road and various other landmarks such as "Winkie Land, Gillikn Land, Quadling Land, Munchin Land" and others that were more specific like "Dark Forest" and "China Country."

On the place of the map that had China Country on it, there was a red pin that penetrated through it. Bryson assumed the pen indicated places destroyed, considering what happened back there. There were also red pins around Quadling Land and Gillikin Land. But Winkie Land and Dark Forest had blue pins. And maybe Bryson was reading way to much in to it, but held the suspicion these colors meant something. Like maybe the red ones meant places totally destoryed, and maybe the blue ones were just ones altered, he didn't know for sure, but it seemed plausible.

"What do you think all this means?" asked Dorothy, her eyes squinted a bit as she examined the map.

"Well... maybe they're places that have been destoryed and altered. And you know what? I'd bet that guy we saw at China Town hangs out here, and that he's the one who put all this stuff in here. That or maybe someone who's working for him did it."

Dorothy chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about it, which seemed to be a habit of hers. (A habit that Bryson had come fond of, if he was quite honest with himself.)

She lifted up her head and nodded. "And I'd bet you're right..." Her eyes roamed the area for a bit until she came across a small brown journal. She dusted it off and picked it up. She opened it and started turning the pages. Bryson looked over. "Those look like different journal entries that he's written... but I can't even read it. It's so sloppy..." He wasn't the neatest writer in the world either, but at least you could make out what it was... this didn't even look like something from any language he had heard of, it was that messy.

Dorothy absent-mindedly nodded and kept searching through the book, until she came across an old black and white photo. She squinted and lifted it up, studying it. It was a photograph of different soilders. It looked like something from the World War II era. They studied it for a while and then put it back in the book and flipped some more pages to find anything else interesting. Eventually, the pages became blank and they realized nothing else was written. They checked the back, looked over some more pages, and then laid it down.

"I almost wanna take it with us... just in case... but if someone came back and realized it was gone or caught us with it.. we could get into some tro-

"Guys!" shouted Finley.

The two looked over at Finley who was trembling in fear. "I think we have some company..."


End file.
